Hand-held firearms have widely been used by the law enforcement and the military for a long time. Aside of many advantages hand-held firearms possess, there is a main disadvantage, to wit: a limited number of shots contained in one load. As a result, hand-held firearms need to be reloaded frequently, and the time spent on reloading significantly reduces the time the firearm can actually be used for firing at targets. Revolvers are particularly prone to this type of deficiency since the cartridges have to be loaded into the revolver's chambers one cartridge at a time.
There have been a number of patents, patent applications and non-patent publications describing various types of loaders for revolver-type firearms, but none has thus far provided a non-complicated, low cost, single-use loading device for revolvers that provides for releasing cartridges into multiple chambers of the gun nearly simultaneously and with one hand. The present invention seeks to lower the cost of production, and improve the loading method through a faster, single-motion loading device and method.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,637,930 (“the '930 patent”) describes a reloading clip for revolvers. The device is expensive, bulky, has moving parts and non-disposable. A somewhat similar invention described in the '845 patent is based on the same principles as the present invention, but that device is bulky, contains unnecessary complexity, such as a latch and a knob, and uses a two-hands operation. In addition, the device described in the '845 patent does not secure a rim or a flange of the cartridge, which causes the device to rely on the grasp only, which, in turn, requires the device to be as wide as one-half of the cartridge's length, comparing to no more than one-third of the cartridge's length of the devise offered by the present invention. Noteworthy is the U.S. Pat. No. 2,073,436 (“the '436 patent”) as it too offers speed-loading mechanism. This device of the '436 patent, however, has moving parts, made out of metal, and cannot be used with rimmed cartridges. In sum, the prior art devices are complex, non-intuitive in operation, and expensive. Thus, a simple and inexpensive speed loading device is desired.